It is time for an update on what has been happening since March – and it’s been a challenging few months for us all, as the impact of the pandemic and ongoing conflict is felt in the lives of the children we care for.  The 11-day Gaza-Israel war in May was deeply upsetting, with the destruction of our clinic in the Adam Center on 7th Floor of Al Jawhara Tower.  We received daily reports from our staff Mohammed and Haitham who thankfully survived with their families.  Due to the magnificent fundraising efforts of our partners IMET2000 and Firefly International the clinic reopened in another location on 20th June. All the children treated over the past two years were contacted and reassessed, with only 2 requiring a further clinical intervention as opposed to general support and reassurance. In addition, they are now receiving many new referrals. We are so proud of the team there for their resilience, courage and determination to bring new hope to Gaza’s children.

Likewise, our friends and colleagues in Armenia have also been struggling with the outcome of the most recent Nagorno-Karabakh war which has left many communities bereaved and isolated from their Armenian relatives.  We have been in discussion about the best way of boosting the skills of local people there to cope with the psychological consequences and we are planning to use our new Anxiety and Resilience Programme.  This is  our new manualised group course, specially written for counsellors, teachers or others who support stressed and anxious children in areas affected by violence, conflict, or disaster. It uses stories, games and activities to help children understand and manage difficult feelings and boost their resilience and sense of hope. After online training by our senior Arabic trainer for the Middle East Dr Ghalia Al Asha, ACTI  partner organisation UOSSM based in Turkey ‘field-tested’ the programme with 12 groups of children and teenagers, all facing hardship and adversity due the war in Syria. The programme was very well received by children and their parents, and the children’s scores on a short anxiety assessment were significantly lower after the course. We are grateful to our colleagues at UOSSM for running this pilot for us. We are now recruiting new tutors to meet requests for A&R training as interest in this programme grows. In September we plan to use it in the Yemen, another country experiencing a long-running civil war and where children are deeply troubled.  Here we are working in collaboration with the British Yemeni Society and once again with funding and support from IMET 2000. We strongly believe that partnership working pays!

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